Me: I’m Asexual

Guess what we're watching.

Ma Xiuying from the Radiant Emperor duology!

Design/research notes under the cut

The characters read 馬秀英 (Pinyin: mǎ xiù yīng), her personal name, and 孝慈高皇后 (xiào cí gāo huáng hòu), her name as Empress.

There's certainly no dearth of material on Chinese clothing history out there. That is, if you can read Chinese, which I can't, so everything I have is from secondary and tertiary sources and/or relies on translation software. Fortunately, we're dealing with historical fantasy here, so some anachronisms are not only allowed but encouraged.

While Shelley Parker-Chan takes many liberties, the books are still set in a very specific time period, which is both a blessing and a curse. Most readily accessible resources will tell you about dynasties, which can span hundreds of years, and the duology takes place in a transitional period. So how to dress a Semu girl from the Yuan dynasty who lives with Nanren rebels wanting to revive the Song dynasty and who later becomes the first Ming empress?

Let's go through them one by one. The best resource was this book which is on the Internet Archive. I disregarded Mongol and Semu influences for the design since clothing is very much political and a way to either stand out or fit in with the surrounding society, see for example Wang Baoxiang wearing a topknot in Khanbaliq. Ma, I imagine, would want to fit in with the Nanren around her, so she's pretty much wearing the attire of Han women under Yuan rule. For the hair I went for something that looks youthful while being plausible, though I found very little on hair in this period, so who's to say.

The next one is from a specific scene in the book, so there is some description to go on: red, long sleeves with gold embroidery, high hair, red and gold ribbons. Since this is the scene where Ma declares herself queen and future empress in front of the Red Turban, it has to be a very deliberate dress. It therefore takes inspiration from Song aristocrats' broad-sleeved gowns as well as from 翟衣 (dí yī), the highest ceremonial gown of both Song and Ming empresses. (Some examples for 翟衣 are in this post, which also features the bird shaped crown I just had to include, and this post.) Her hair still has the loops, but it's much more sculpted.

Finally, Empress Ma! This is mainly based on the two actual portraits I could find of the historical figure that Ma is based on, with elements taken from other portraits and paintings. It includes 凤冠 (fèng guān), the phoenix crown, 霞帔 (xiá pèi), the sash, and 禁步 (jīn bù), the jade belt. This video shows how Ming dynasty layers are worn, but it refers to a much later period so it's not quite the same as Ma's.

(Some additional, historically irrelevant notes: I realized too late that a right-to-left timeline might be more appropriate. Oh well! Also, how the colours photograph frustrates me, I swear I did not make her this deathly pale. And finally, some of the characters look a bit smudged because my cat spilled water on them. I did what I could to save them.)

Hey ho I don't play league but I do play WR and LoR and I have read some of the lore so here goes:

The celestials associated with Targon are human hosts of the Aspects which are powerful beings from the celestial realm. The Aspects choose human hosts to give some of their powers to and the hosts (such as Leona, Diana, Zoe, Taric, Pantheon as well but he's different) enforce the Aspects' will on Runeterra. I don't think we know why the Aspects are so interested in Runeterra, but we do know they are against the Void. This page is great for more info.

Other celestial beings include Aurelion Sol, the creator of planets and galaxies but were tricked by the Targonians into wearing a restrictive crown and is now sealing Void rifts under their control/command; Bard, a mystical entity who kind of steps in when they are needed in extreme situations to prevent Runeterra falling into chaos; Soraka, once a celestial being filled with so much compassion she gave up her immortality in order to help the people of Runeterra; and some more.

I do believe that other than the Aspects and other celestial beings, everyone else is either of the Void or native to Runeterra.

For example, the Watchers are powerful entities who have existed since forever, and they look to destroy Runeterra for waking them from their eternal sleep by creating void rifts and learning more about Runeterra so they can either unleash armies of Void monsters to destroy everything or if possible to physically show up and do it themselves. Basically, they are the Void.

The Freljordian demi-gods include Ornn, Volibear and Anivia and more, and they are native to Runeterra. I'm not entirely sure what they are (oop) but they do have immense power far higher than most if not all mortals.

Janna is a wind goddess native to Runeterra whose strength depends on her followers. She was originally in Shurima but after she was no longer needed she went to Zaun, where the people prayed to her much more often in hopes of warding off the dangerous chemical fumes.

Nagakabourous is again native to Runeterra and is the god which Illaoi serves. I don't know much else as the lore surrounding them has changed quite a bit and I'm kinda confused :/

Even Kindred, who is pretty much the personification of death, is native to Runeterra (I think?).

Kayle and Morgana are the daughters of Mihira, Aspect host of Justice. Due to this they were born with powerful magic but they, like the other Aspect hosts, are native to Runeterra (only the Aspects themselves aren't).

Don't know if these really count but the Ascended are humans given celestial magic by the Sun Disc. The Darkin are Ascended who became corrupted by the Void. Thus these are all native to Runeterra.

Hope this helps, please correct me if I'm wrong or ask any more questions :)

Here is a question for all the League of legends lovers out there. Especially the ones who read the lore.

What separates the celestials from all the other gods worshipped on Runeterra?

I know that the celestials are littarly what the name implies, celestial gods representing different aspects, like war, twilight, etc.

But what about the other gods? Are they celestials too, or are they gods/godlike beings who are purely native to Runeterra?

I know that this might sound like a stupid question, but I am genuinely curious.

Still feeling insane about this shot. "Checking you out between the crossed blades of our swords" yes good but Li Xiangyi is literally seeing his own face in Di Feisheng's sword as it obscures half of DFS's face. If swords and swordplay are the truest expression of - god how do I even describe it - who you are, your core, your relationship to the world and how you act within it, your morals, your standards, your beliefs idk just EVERYTHING - And here is the only other person who can match you, your rival and your enemy and your equal - crossing blades with you, because you think he's betrayed you, killed your shixiong, torn up the peace treaty you created together - but in his blade you see yourself.

The show is telling us literally in the opening scene that these two people are a matched set, do not separate - even as the scene is tearing them apart.

One of my favourite comics 😭

Improbable Compatibility Store / Patreon

How to be a Disney princess: a Li Xiangyi/Li Lianhua guide

1. Magic hair

2. Magic hands

3. Be poisoned

4. Be kidnapped or enslaved

And the most important one: people must assume all your problems got solved because a big strong man showed up

The tags are so real, CR Ezreal as a skin and as a character are both the worst things in existence

Chromacrash Ekko and Jinx are supposed to paint white & empty stuff and make it colorful & fun 

You know who are in full white outfits….yeah you know where I’m going with this…

Just watched Mean Girls!

I wish I were both more like and less Cady. I will not elaborate.

AITA for realizing that my best friend is actually a ghost and not telling him because i'm worried that if he realizes he's dead he'll finally be able to accept it and fully pass on and i won't be able to hang out with him anymore?

can we talk about the sheer oscar-level acting ability it took di feisheng, a kinsey 6 gay man, to pretend to have amnesia and be interested in jiao liqiao. to let her touch him and not recoil. maybe post-canon he should be an actor